I would be lying if I said I was expecting Mark to pick a 9-and-a-half-hour documentary on the Holocaust for his film this week but here we are. It does make sense that he did. It is Holocaust Memorial Day this Wednesday and the film in question, ‘Shoah’ (1985) is seen as not just one of the greatest documentaries about the subject ever made, but also just one of the best documentaries of all time and, in some quarters, one of the best films of all time in general. It is a film with huge historical significance and one that I definitely wanted to watch because of this. And now I have I feel like this is a film everyone should watch at least once.
To give a synopsis about this film aside from it being a 9-and-a-half-hour documentary about the Holocaust seems a little redundant. It seems much more apt to talk about how it goes about doing this. This is a film that uses no archival footage at all. Every shot in the film is shot specifically for this film which, for a film that is as long as this film is, is a ridiculous feat. The film goes very much for an interview style. There is very little time in the film provided to anything other than interviews, and they interview not only the people who survived the horrors of the ghettos and the death camps, but also the Germans who worked within the system that kept the death machine that the Holocaust was ticking over. The amount of insight and information that these interviews provide throughout the film is incredible, but the film also allows for all of this to sit with the viewer and really hit home. Whether this is through the quiet and long pauses it takes during the interviews which allows the devastating information that you are being provided to really sink in and for you to really get a grip of some of the seemingly impossible things that are being described. Or through the POV shots that the film implements throughout. The film is superbly shot, and it is visual fantastic as well as being this incredible historical document, but it is in these POV shots where the technical side of the film really compliments the content. As you are hearing these stories and confessions about the horrors that occurred the camera puts you in the shoes of the storyteller, walking you through the real places they are describing. A lot of these places are no longer standing, but you still can fully imagine the scene and put yourself there and it really drives home all of the horrors that the film demands you never forget.
As you can probably guess from everything that I have said so far, this is not an easy watch. Forget the length of the film, that is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things when it comes down to what the film is attempting and focusing on. I would never ask for any of the stories of these people to be cut or watered down at all for a shorter running time. What makes this film a difficult watch is obviously the subject matter. The film is harrowing from the very beginning. I am a History graduate and so I have studied and learned about the Holocaust on numerous occasions. I have also visited both Auschwitz and Birkenau, but the film brings it to a whole new personal level that I have not really experienced before, and it is devastating. Watching these men and women recount these horrific experiences is truly devastating, and you can see this in the faces of the interviewees. There is a sense throughout that those being interviewed have effectively shut themselves down in order to tell these stories. It is quite methodical in how they are telling these stories, almost like they are doing this automatically without really thinking. But there are several moments where they breakdown (completely understandably) and it is almost impossible for you not to break down with them.
Like I said in my introduction, I feel like this is a film that anyone with a passing interest in film or history should watch, but if I am being perfectly honest it is a film that everyone should watch. It is a film that feels massively important and you feel like you are really watching history when you see it, mostly because you are. But if you do decide to sit down and watch it I would advise doing it in two sittings due to the sheer length and subject matter that the film deals with. I know that sounds rich when thinking about what the film is about. Woe is me for having to watch a 9-hour documentary. But I think watching it in one sitting may be a little overwhelming and take away from the impact of the film someway. Maybe I am wrong but that is how I feel about it. Regardless of how you watch it, I implore you to at least watch it. It may be an extremely difficult watch, but it is a hugely important one as well and more than worth your time.
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